Young Adult Author

Category: Uncategorized

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team!But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the PINK TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the pink team, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by Sunday October 7th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Stacie Ramey is the author of The Sister Pact, a contemporary realistic Young Adult novel which was named a YALSA 2016 Popular Paperback and a 2015 PSLA Top 40. Her sophomore novel, The Homecoming was awarded the Bronze Medal in the Florida Book Awards. Kirkus called her third book, The Secrets We Bury, “A sensitive, funny, and sometimes awkwardly romantic story of survival and self-awareness.”

Allie is devastated when her sister commits suicide-and it’s not just because she misses her. Allie feels betrayed. The two made a pact that they’d always be together, in life and in death, but Leah broke her promise and Allie needs to know why.

Her parents hover. Her friends try to support her. And Nick, sweet Nick, keeps calling and flirting. Their sympathy only intensifies her grief.

But the more she clings to Leah, the more secrets surface. Allie’s not sure which is more distressing: discovering the truth behind her sister’s death or facing her new reality without her.

One of the cool things about being an author is you get to fantasize about your book being made into a movie…and sometimes that happens! Authors almost always have celebrities in mind when wondering who would be the best actor to play the characters in their books and I am no exception. If I was in the glorious position of casting the major roles for The Sister Pact, I would cast Landry Bender at Allie and Mackenzie Foy as Leah. Hayden Byerly would make a great Nick. So if any directors are out there and listening, let’s do this!

Landry Bender

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And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me, Cheyanne Young, and more! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 336. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the pink team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

CONTINUE THE HUNT

To keep going on your quest for the hunt, you need to check out the next author! Amy McNulty!

Welcome to YA Scavenger Hunt! This bi-annual event was first organized by author Colleen Houck as a way to give readers a chance to gain access to exclusive bonus material from their favorite authors…and a chance to win some awesome prizes! At this hunt, you not only get access to exclusive content from each author, you also get a clue for the hunt. Add up the clues, and you can enter for our prize–one lucky winner will receive one book from each author on the hunt in my team!But play fast: this contest (and all the exclusive bonus material) will only be online for 72 hours!

Go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page to find out all about the hunt. There are SIX contests going on simultaneously, and you can enter one or all! I am a part of the GREEN TEAM–but there is also a red team, a gold team, an orange team, a red team, and an indie team for a chance to win a whole different set of books!

If you’d like to find out more about the hunt, see links to all the authors participating, and see the full list of prizes up for grabs, go to the YA Scavenger Hunt page.

SCAVENGER HUNT PUZZLE

Directions: Below, you’ll notice that I’ve listed my favorite number. Collect the favorite numbers of all the authors on the GREEN TEAM, and then add them up (don’t worry, you can use a calculator!).

Rules: Open internationally, anyone below the age of 18 should have a parent or guardian’s permission to enter. To be eligible for the grand prize, you must submit the completed entry form by April 8th, at noon Pacific Time. Entries sent without the correct number or without contact information will not be considered.

Steven dos Santos is author of THE TORCH KEEPER novels, a Young Adult Post-Apocalyptic series. Book One, THE CULLING, was released by FLUX Books in March of 2013, and named an American Library Association 2014 Rainbow List Top Ten Selection. His novel, DAGGER, a Young Adult Paranormal Espionage Adventure, was released by Evernight Teen in September 2015! He is a passionate advocate of LGBT rights.

This is a deleted/alternate scene in The Culling, when malevolent Slade plunges the Recruits into the Sea, shortly after their first meeting. Originally, the entire second act of the novel depicted Lucian and the gang battling the elements, trying to reach the main compound as one big survival test. During revisions, the middle of the novel evolved into more of a training segment, which made greater sense, given the Recruits lack of military skills. Unfortunately, this little hallucinatory snippet, which highlights Lucian’s love for his mother and brother, Cole, as well as his fears, was lost on the cutting room floor.

I somersault through the air. My stomach roils as it struggles to keep up with the rest of me. Then I plunge down the same endless tunnel my mind’s been tumbling through ever since the last time I saw Cole on Recruitment Day, his face growing further and further away the more I reach out to him. Icy needles rip through my skin. Something punches the breath from my lungs. I try to gasp, but my mouth fills with salty ice.

So this is what it feels like to drown. Many times I thought death was a visitor to be welcomed, but now that it’s knocking at my door, I want to bolt the lock shut, run away, cower in some dark place where it won’t find me. My body convulses. Each jerk pumps fear into my veins. As the darkness envelops me, my last thought is that I’ve failed my little brother before I’ve even begun.

The blackness turns to a murky gray, growing lighter and lighter until my eyes squint

against bright sunshine. I’m in a lush field, painted in the most vivid green I’ve ever seen. Standing as tall as my eyes can see is The Lady from Cole’s story, her torch burning brightly, book clutched to her bosom. She’s staring off at her gleaming city, a skyline of the tallest structures I’ve ever seen.

Then she turns her gaze on me. Huge eyes pierce my flesh. I bow my head.

“Lucian,” her voice calls, and I shrink from its power. But I’m drawn to it like a tired sun

to the western sky.

When I gather enough courage to meet her eyes, she smiles at me. I gasp. It’s no longer

the Lady’s face. It’s my own mother’s. And nestled in her arm is a baby instead of a book.

A baby I know better than I know myself.

Cole.

My mother continues to beam. Though she’s no longer the size of a statue, she’s grander

than a thousand Ladies. Gliding toward me, she looks more beautiful and alive than I’ve ever seen. Her hair is long and full. Each strand imprisons the sun’s rays, unlike the scraggly gray patches that came away with each caress as she lay dying on that weathered cot. Her cheeks swell with pink, not sunken and pasty. But it’s her eyes that touch me the most. They’re vibrant and warm, filled with traces of something I’ve barely glimpsed in my sixteen years, let alone on my mother’s face.

Is that hope she’s looking at me with?

I want to throw my arms around her, ask her to forgive me for failing her and Dad and

losing Cole, let her know I can’t go on without her.

I can’t go on alone.

But she continues to beam at me, holding out the baby.

I take the infant from her and stare down at his face. He’s so tiny, so helpless. He needs

When I look back up at my mother, she’s gone, as are The Lady, the City. Everything. In panic, I turn back to the bundle in my arms, and find only an empty blanket.

He’s gone. Cole’s gone and I’ll never see him again. The bright day surrenders to dusk, then night.

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And don’t forget to enter the contest for a chance to win a ton of books by me and several more authors! To enter, you need to know that my favorite number is 19. Add up all the favorite numbers of the authors on the green team and you’ll have all the secret code to enter for the grand prize!

GIVEAWAY

I’m also hosting a giveaway on my blog! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter to win a $10 Starbucks gift card, Swag from my new book, and a bookish decal from my Etsy shop!